1992 | Directed by Robert Zemeckis |
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Helen, a writer, and Madeline, an actress, have hated each other for years. Madeline is
married to Ernest who was once Helen's fiance. After she recovers from a mental breakdown,
Helen vows revenge by stealing back Ernest and plotting to kill Madeline. Both rivals have
secretly drunk a miracle cure for aging; they accidentally discover, when each tries to
eliminate the other, that they have become immortal and that "life" will never be the same
again. |
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| ADDITIONAL CAST & CHARACTERS |
Meryl Streep
Goldie Hawn
Bruce Willis
Isabella Rosselini
Ian Ogilvy |
... Madeleine Ashton
... Helen Sharp
... Ernest Menville
... Lisle Von Rhoman
... Chagall |
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Meryl Streep, Entertainment Weekly, March 2000
"My first, my last, my only. I think it's tedious. Whatever concentration you can apply to that
kind of comedy is just shredded. You stand there like a piece of machinery - they should get
machinery to do it. I loved how it turned out. But it's not fun to act to a lampstand. 'Pretend
this is Goldie, right here. Uh, no, I'm sorry, Bob, she went off the mark by five centimeters,
and now her head won't match her neck!' It was like being at the dentist. I thought that movie
was a documentary about the Los Angeles fixaction with aging... Women treat themselves that way
because we're given power based on how we look - never mind Margaret Mead."
The movie was heavily edited for theatrical release after test screenings. The two major
changes are the ending, which was originally a bit less bleak but still disappointed test
audiences, and an entire subplot involving Tracey Ullman as a bartender who befriends the
Bruce Willis character. Also, many scenes were shortened, including a lengthy sequence the day
after Meryl Streep's character is released from the hospital with a broken neck. Also,
character scenes by supporting players such as Jonathan Silverman as Streep's agent were cut
to the point of becoming cameos, and a couple of scenes with Isabella Rossellini's character
were also shortened. The reason for most of the changes was due to Zemeckis' desire to liven
the pace, as well as cutting extraneous jokes that didn't further
the plot or character. The reason for the deletion of the entire Tracey Ullman subplot had to
do with the removal of the original ending. In it, Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn are outfoxed
by Bruce Willis and Tracey Ullman, who escape with the potion. Flash forward 27 years, and
Streep and Hawn bump into a now-happily retired couple, Ullman and Willis. Though Streep and
Hawn remain beautiful, they lack the love and life that Willis and Ullman created without the
use of any magical youth potions. Hence the moral of the story was the same, but apparently,
Zemeckis and the test audiences didn't feel the payoff was rewarding enough. When it was
changed to the current ending (where the Streep and Hawn literally fall to pieces), the entire
Ullman subplot seemed extraneous, so was cut. In all, quite a few minutes of deletions were
made, and this test audience version was never released theatrically or on home video.
The date when Helen drinks the potion (October 26, 1985) is the "present" date in Back to the Future (1985), also directed by Robert Zemeckis.
In the scene where Helen sits down onto a shovel handle, she didn't sit in the way she was expected to do, so the SFX people had to morph the image to make it look like the shovel handle was pushing up into her chest.
A pneumatic bra was built to create the effect where Meryl Streep's breasts become higher and firmer after drinking the potion, but the effect didn't look realistic enough. In order to get the shot Meryl Streep's dresser stood behind her, out of sight of the camera, and pushed her breasts into position.
An edited picture from the original ending was used during Ernest's funeral scene. The picture of him aged was actually a of him in full age makeup from the first ending. 'Bruce Willis (I)' 's aged face was used, but put on an actual picture of a mountain climber, which thus resulted in the end picture of Ernest at his funeral.
During the description of the plot to kill Madeline, there was a quick shot of the folder being stamped "case closed" at a desk. Also on the desk was a brain in a glass jar labeled "abnormal" - a tribute to the original Frankenstein.
Early trailers show Streep driving through Beverly Hills, Streep and Hawn with Ullman outside the nightclub with Hawn moaning that everybody keeps dying, and Willis pulling Streep's wrapped body out of the fridge ("Why am I all sweaty?" "That's not sweat, you're defrosting").
Bruce Willis replaced Kevin Kline.
Additional Information at the Internet Movie Database
Full cast & credits, trivia and business information
| AWARDS / NOMINATIONS FOR MERYL STREEP |
1993 (Nomination) Golden Globe Award - Best Actress
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Features: none
Video: Widescreen, Color
Languages: English (Dolby)
BUY DVD AT AMAZON.COM |
DVD Release: January 20, 1998
Region Code: 1
Distributor: Universal Studios
ASIN: 0783225482
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